Page 36 of Unknown Royal Baby

He walked forward, arms out. ‘Let me take her while you do up your buttons.’

Though it was a shame for Avril to cover up.

She nodded and he gently took their baby.Their baby.The wonder of it never ceased to amaze him. But his joy was undercut by the way Avril flinched at his inadvertent touch. So different from when they’d made love.

Isam was eager to renew that intimacy. But he couldn’t push. It was more important, for now, to convince her to marry him.

He gathered up little Maryam, smiling down into her long-lashed eyes, and turned away, giving Avril privacy. The little one waved a hand in the air and when he touched it, a tiny fist wrapped around his index finger.

Everything in Isam melted. All the barriers he’d built around himself in the last year. Essential barriers that had allowed him to deal with grief for his father and the loss of his own autonomy.

That was how it felt, as if he’d lost himself, or an essential part, along with his memory.

But feeling his daughter’s surprisingly powerful grip, experiencing his own rush of love, made his shattered self seem whole.

As did his longing for Avril. For the first time in a year, he wanted a woman. Not just wanted. Craved. It was a physical hunger yet a superstitious part of him almost believed she could make him complete again. Since meeting her, memories had started trickling into his brain.

‘What are you singing?’

He turned to find her close, all buttoned up. ‘Just a lullaby. I used to sing it for my sister.’

‘You cared for her?’

Of course he’d cared for her. Then he realised what Avril meant. ‘My mother died, having her. I was eleven and my father explained that while a nanny would look after her, it was important Nur knew from the beginning that she was loved and part of the family.’

He stopped, hearing his voice turned to gravel. His sister had died years ago yet still, sometimes, the grief hit as if fresh.

Warmth circled his upper arm as Avril touched his sleeve. ‘I’m sorry you lost your sister. I can’t imagine what that would be like.’

When he nodded but didn’t say anything she continued. ‘I grew up as an only child. Though I’ve got half-siblings now.’ Her tone was flat.

‘You don’t get on with them?’

Avril’s mouth crimped into a crooked line. ‘I’ve never met them. When I was in my early teens my father migrated to marry a Canadian. I’ve never met his wife or their children.’

Fury scythed through him, and outrage on her behalf. ‘He didn’t invite you to go with him? He left you with your great-aunt?’

She shrugged but her shoulders looked tight. ‘He wasn’t around much by then anyway. He travelled a lot for work.’

In his arms the baby squirmed and he realised he held her too tight. He eased his grip, rocking her gently. ‘You didn’t want to go with him?’

What sort of man abandoned his daughter?

Avril lifted Maryam, now yawning, from his arms and put her in the cot. ‘By that stage we weren’t close.’

Isam bit down a scathing observation about her father. It might relieve his feelings but at what cost to hers? ‘And your mother?’

The brief report he’d received had been focused on Avril’s professional life, not her family history.

‘She died a long time ago.’ She cut him off before he could express sympathy. ‘It’s okay. I was so little I barely remember her. She left to be with someone else and then died in an accident a few years later.’

Isam had come here focused on the difficulties of his day. Talking to Avril put those in perspective.

He wanted to gather her to him and ease her pain, an instinctive response that by its very nature made him pause. That, and her expression, which almost dared him to feel sorry for her.

‘No wonder you’re such an independent, capable person,’ he said as he gestured for her to precede him into the sitting room.

When they were both seated she responded. ‘I’m glad you think so.’

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